By Rachel K. Mulloy
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) issued its annual report on Monday, November 17, 2014, presenting a mixed bag of good and (mostly) bad news. The PBGC was created in 1974 as a government insurance program for traditional employer-paid defined benefit pension plans. If an employer can no longer support its pension plan ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
The U.S. Senate’s Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) has set a full committee hearing for November 20, 2014, on the nomination of Lauren McFerran to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board. She was just nominated by the President on November 12, 2014.
Assuming the HELP Committee votes out her ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
On November 12, 2014, President Obama unexpectedly advised the U.S. Senate that he was withdrawing the nomination of Sharon Block to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board and that he was submitting the nomination of Lauren McGarity McFerran to be on the NLRB, replacing Democrat Nancy Schiffer whose term expires ...
This is part two of a three-part series on written description requirements and the developing case law under the America Invents Act (AIA).
The previous post in this series introduced the potential litigation hurdle – or, opportunity, depending on one’s perspective – involving the requirement that a “parent” ...
By Emily C. Lamb
In a big victory for business groups, the Indiana Supreme Court issued a decision on November 6, 2014, in Zoeller v. Sweeney, 2 N.E.3d ___ (Ind. 2014) unanimously holding that Indiana’s Right to Work Law is constitutional. The Right to Work Law, which became effective in February 2012, bars employers from forcing workers to join ...
This is part one of a three-part series on written description requirements and the developing case law under the America Invents Act (AIA).
It happens regularly in patent litigation: a patentee asserts a patent that arose from a child application, the child application claims priority to an application filed years before, and ...
By Leila G. O'Carra
On October 23, 2014, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel announced its landmark determination that the Department of the Army engaged in gender identity discrimination against a civilian Army quality assurance specialist after she revealed her intention to transition from male to female. The Army agreed to provide remedial ...
By Margaret Y. Levi
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) has issued guidance concerning how the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision recognizing same-sex marriages may affect certain provisions relating to “family members” in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ...
By Michelle D. Wyrick
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division recently released enforcement statistics for fiscal years 2009 through 2013. Of particular note to employers, the Wage and Hour Division continues to process a high number of wage and hour complaints, with a particular focus on workers in low-wage industries ...
By Edwin S. Hopson
In FedEx Home Delivery, 361 NLRB No. 55 (2014) decided September 30, 2013, the National Labor Relations Board found certain FedEx drivers based in Hartford, Connecticut to be employees of FedEx Home Delivery. The National Labor Relations Act covers “employees” as defined in the NLRA, but does not offer protection to ...